Dark.
“You boast so fucking much about being a trained CIA agent,” Vincenzo said, his voice low and dripping with mockery, “yet you couldn’t even last ten minutes before you were screaming and breaking like a weak little girl.”
He paused, eyes narrowing, a strange tension threading his tone.
“After crossing two of my red lines, I should be peeling the skin from your body right now. I should make you beg for death in ways that would make grown men piss themselves. But here’s the pathetic truth...”
A bitter, self-mocking laugh escaped him.
“I don’t know what is wrong with me. I can’t stand watching you suffer... for too long.”
“You’ve turned me soft, wife. And I fucking hate it. So enjoy this brief mercy while it lasts.”
The air left my lungs slowly.
I stared at him.
Words failed me.
Not because I didn’t have them—but because none of them seemed capable of holding the reality of what he just said.
He exhaled sharply, dragging a hand through his still-damp hair in a rare display of visible frustration.
For a moment, the control he wore so effortlessly seemed to slip—just enough to reveal the strain underneath.
“This isn’t me,” he muttered, more to himself than to me.
I swallowed hard, my throat tight.
My eyes dropped to the blood-streaked sheets beneath me, unable to hold his gaze any longer.
The red looked darker against the white fabric—evidence of everything I had endured.
Evidence of how far this had gone.
A knock shattered the silence.
Sharp. Urgent. Repetitive.
The door flew open before anyone could respond.
The doctor rushed in, coat askew, face flushed and glistening with sweat, as though he’d run the entire distance without stopping.
His medical bag swung at his side with each hurried step.
He didn’t speak. Didn’t hesitate.
He went straight to the bed.
Straight to me.
Kneeling beside me, he opened his bag with practiced speed, gloved hands already moving as his eyes assessed the damage with clinical precision.
His touch was gentle—but efficient.
I sucked in a sharp breath when he cleaned the wounds.
The antiseptic burned.
